Family
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Today we are celebrating Family Sunday in our church. For this, allow me to share this morning on why God made Family.
Key Scripture: Psalms 68:6 God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land. (NKJV)
John Gill’s Commentary says that the Jewish writers generally understand this scripture to speak of the increase of families with two people getting married and having children. They cite Abraham and Sarah as examples: two single, solitary ones, joined in marriage, having numerous offspring.
The Targum, the Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Bible, says:
“God is He that joins, couples single ones into a couple, as one, … to build a house out of them” (John Gill’s Expositor)
Another commentary concludes this scripture:
But those who will not be family are “removed from all the comforts of home.” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown)
Psalms 68:6 God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
When God could have cast Himself in any image, He chose that of a Father and mankind as His family.
Certainly He could have hand made each one of us just as He did Adam and Eve. However, He chose another agency to have this privilege - God chose the family to carry on His work.
God ordained the family before He ordained the Church.
What we expect from God, God expects from family.
Even Jesus, the Only Begotten of the Father, was given into a family’s charge for protection, direction, instruction and care. God wanted His Son to be raised in a family environment - a traditional family setting.
Why? Because God has set a law in motion. We read it’s wisdom in:
Proverbs 22:6 ¶ Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. (NIV)
God knows that if you raise up a child in the way they should go it trains them for the future and sets them in that mold for the rest of their lives.
Where else can a person be prepared to live life?
Well, in America today:
We send our children to school to learn to read and write.
We send our children to church to learn about God and Eternity.
We send our children to camp to learn about nature.
We send our children to college to learn a profession or trade.
We send our children to soccer or tumbling to learn sportsmanship.
But where do we send our children to learn family?
Family is God’s plan for every person to learn the basic skills and courtesies of life.
Family is the place where we learn:
* Please - Thank You and May I?
* Excuse Me and I’m Sorry - I Was Wrong
* Yes Ma’am and No Sir, the common respect and honor God wants our elders to have.
* It’s where we are taught to shop for food, cook a meal, set a table, wash dishes and clean up after ourselves.
* It’s the place we learn to change a flat tire, put oil in a car, mow the grass and paint the house.
* It’s the school of relationship and conflict management.
* It’s where we learn about God’s plan for our life and the importance of Church and community support.
I venture to say that if my mama had not taught me to sew on a button, make my bed and take out the trash that I would have been much less equipped for many of the small, yet continuing challenges of life.
Family is God’s school of life.
I felt it valuable to teach my children how to repair things. Brenda felt it reasonable to teach them proper etiquette.
Parents are not just babysitters. You know the difference between a babysitter and a parent?
A babysitter makes no investment in your child’s future but only cares for the moment. Parents give tools to build a healthy life.
Proverbs 1 (NLT)
8 Listen, my child, to what your father teaches you. Don’t neglect your mother’s teaching.
9 What you learn from them will crown you with grace and clothe you with honor.
Listen parents: If we don’t teach our children, who will?
Five Things Every Family Should Teach
1. Relationship
* With God
* With Family
* With Others
I cannot stress this enough:
Note: Teaching is done on purpose.
* First with a set time and a lesson plan
* Then an evaluation
* After that, correction
* And then continuing education
What I am attempting to do this morning is to get us to pay more attention to our God given family responsibilities. God expects a lot from family. It is His only chosen vehicle of life.
2. Discipline
* Both the daily regime of life and the meaning of no
* Self restraint
* Patience and Persistence
* To harness ourselves in the productive flow of daily life
3. Life Skills
* From cooking to balancing a checkbook
* From holding a job to cleaning house
* From acts of charity to being a responsible voter
* From sewing on buttons to changing flat tires
* From bedtime to meal time
Someone has to teach every one.
Who will model family? Why would our children ever make the effort to have daily quality family time if we don’t value it ourselves. If we can’t harness our own lives, establish priorities and give time to raise the next generation they will only rise to become babysitters.
4. Priorities
* God’s plan
1. Make a living
2. Make a life
3. Make a difference
* Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time for every thing.
* God - Family - Others
> All three in it’s proper place (manage time for all 3)
> No one can cancel out the others
5. Future (If we don’t teach them who will teach them thatJ
* Our greatest day is yet ahead
* Don’t take a temporary situation and create a permanent problem
* Be a Builder not a Survivor (Thriver or Survivor)
* The Journey Is Our Friend
* Become a parent, not a babysitter
If we don’t do it, who will?
Ask yourself this question:
* If I don’t teach it, who will?
What we expect from God, God expects from family.
Let’s strive to be the family God wants every child to have.
